Izzy’s Ice Cream plans to hire about 40 summer workers in May, and preference will be given to poets.

The ice cream shop with locations in Minneapolis and St. Paul is asking candidates to submit a haiku with their application.

“Haikus are accessible, meticulous, and have a latent curiosity in them,” said Izzy’s General Manager Shannon Leach. “These are values we would love to see in anybody we hire.”

The haiku can be submitted as an audio file or as a series of images. It must be about the person’s ice cream eating experience. Full rules are available on the Izzy’s website.

“We’re mostly just looking for kind of a creative way of thinking,” Leach said.

The idea came from Dangerous Productions, a St. Paul-based arts organization, which also suggested that the company hold a hiring party on Friday, where applicants will play games, eat free food and start the next step of the hiring process.

Leach said the Izzy’s in Minneapolis is still relatively new. The company needs 25 new scoopers, about 10 new kitchen staff and five new shift leaders. The haiku requirement seemed like a good way to get the word out and encourage candidates to invest themselves in the application process.

“We were thinking that we needed something a little bit more innovative this time,” she said.